Timeless
by Bitter-Sweet Teardrops
Summary: Summer just isn't your thing, neh? Oh well. I suppose we make a good pair. Fine. Don't talk to me. Ignore me. And be a short ice block. but one day, you'll admit it. You love me, even though I'm Summer. Becuase Winter just can't live without Summer."


**Hello peeps! I'm back, and trying something new!! For once, it's not an Ichigo/Rukia fic...it's Hitsugaya/Matsumoto!! And so, as a total newbie with this pairing, I have absolutely no experience in writing Matsumoto and Hitsugaya. I've read a lot of fics with this pairing and my imagination has been sparked, And so, this fic was born. It will be a series of one-shots, and I can tell you that there won't be regular updates, because this will only be updated when inspiration strikes. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it, tell me whether I should continue or not, because it can be just a one-shot. (To the readers of 'Look', I know I should be working on that, but this has been rolling around in my head...and you know....when that happens, it pops into mind whenever a pc comes into view...I'm working on it, I promise 'Soul' will be up soon.) **

**DICLAIMER: I *cough* OWN *cough* BLEACH...*cough-cough* Okay...fine....I don't...**

* * *

**Hospitals **

The first time Hitsugaya landed himself in the barracks of the Fourth Division due to a training session which had spiralled out of control, Matsumoto Rangiku bought him a teddy bear. He had stared at it with a confused look on his face, and she had explained that teddy bears were the best remedy for a patient. When he told her that he was only going to be here for a few hours – Unohana just wanted to make sure that he didn't have a concussion – and broadly hinted that a little teddy bear wasn't going to be much use, she had just grinned and told him that just because he was a Captain didn't mean he couldn't be a kid once in a while. He twitched a little, and opened his mouth to deliver a retort but she pecked his lips and sauntered out of the room with a wink before the words got out of his mouth. He couldn't concentrate on anything for three hours after that.

That night, when he arrived back to his office, reluctantly holding the small white and blue soft-toy, he almost choked on nothing to find that Matsumoto had actually finished her half of the paperwork. He did choke when he went over to his desk and found all _his_ paperwork stacked into neat piles and ready to sign. He set the toy on his desk before discovering a small pink note attached on top of the middle pile, with a message written in Matusmoto's favourite green gel pen and curvy handwriting.

_Taichou – _

_Just because you're a Captain doesn't mean you can't be a kid once in a while. I did my share of the paperwork; I hope I got the piles right for yours. I took the liberty of leaving a small meal in your rooms. I hope you like the bear; I took a long time finding it for you. _

_Have a good rest tonight; a child needs his beauty sleep. _

_-- Matsumoto _

It was decorated with a few love-hearts and swirls and she had drawn a big smiley face next to where she signed her name, and to his surprise, he found that he didn't want to throw it into the bin, so he slipped it into a drawer and headed toward his rooms, but not before grabbing the bear and hiding it in his sleeve. There, as specified on the note, he found a small bento box on his table. The corners of his lips turning up in a small smile, he turned his attention to the bear he was holding, and scanned his room for a suitable place. He found one on the shelf next to his bed, and positioned the bear there.

Later, he would look at small animal and smile; because that was the first (an only, to his disappointment) time his vice-captain _ever _really completed _all_ her work _and _did extra, and the first time Matsumoto kissed him.

* * *

The second time he found himself in the Fourth Division, Matsumoto bought him his favourite sweet. Well, more like, she sneaked in with his favourite sweet after visiting hours were over and managed to evade detection. How she did it, he would never know. He didn't really want to know, but if he was to make an educated guess, he would say that her rather catchy 'assets' did have a few,(though they were small and mostly perverted) advantages when put to use the right way.

Even as he berated her for coming in so late and disregarding the rules (and probably causing a few men haemorrhaging through the nose), he couldn't help the small smile which formed on his face, and _inconspicuously _eyeing the small green box that was resting on his bedside table, and when she giggled, he knew she had noticed both. He felt his ears go bright red with embarrassment, because Hitsugaya Toushiro did _not_ smile, and the other reason was obvious, but when his vice-captain patted him on the head and told him to just eat it because she knew he wanted to, he glared at her but opened the box anyway.

* * *

The third time he woke up in what he thought must be a whitewashed room; he was distantly surprised to find himself on cold damp ground which had been fed enough blood to last a lifetime. His head spun even though he was lying down, and it took several long moments for him to remember that he was in the middle of a war with Aizen and his band of Hollows. And then, his consciousness had promptly deserted him. Afterwards, he had been told that he was brought in, draped over his exhausted and drained lieutenant with a deep tear in his stomach, broken bones and lacerations and abrasions littering his body like there was no tomorrow, and blood soaking through his clothing at alarming speeds.

The third time he woke in an actual hospital, he knew Matsumoto had bought him his life.

For most of the time, he was in the world of oblivion, but when he was awake for more than a few seconds, Matsumoto was fixing whatever she could with what healing Kidou she knew or harassing an over-worked medic to just 'hurry up, stop whining about taking a rest, quit fumbling around and wasting time, and just bloody _heal him NOW!_" All the while, she held him and talked to him and told him not to die on her too many times to count. And after that, he had passed out again.

When he woke up for real and regained enough sense to know what was going on around him, the first thing he felt was a large fat teardrop land on the palm of his hand. Eyes wide, he turned his head a little and found his buxom lieutenant clutching his hand like a lifeline and crying in relief.

It wasn't the fact that he almost lost his life that made the experience stand out; it was that fact that he had _never_ seen Matsumoto cry in earnest before.

* * *

The fourth time he woke up in an increasingly familiar bleached room, he had a blinding headache, a stomach-ache, sore limbs which felt like lead and wanted nothing more than to fall back into oblivion. When his second-in-command and girlfriend's – yes, he had finally worked up enough courage to ask her, after he had come to his senses after the war – head swam into view, he thought he might have imagined the near-petrified expression on it. When she noticed that he was awake she stood up so quickly she almost tipped over the chair she was sitting on and a nurse arrived in record time.

One look at his glazed and slightly unfocused eyes told the nurse that he definitely wasn't aware of his surroundings yet, but when she turned to tell the busty, loud and annoying vice-captain that, one look at the terrified expression on her face took the blunt words of agitation from her mouth and replaced them with the professionally calm and gentle exterior that they had been trained in.

In the end, Matsumoto had to be physically removed from the bedroom, but she was grinning underneath her waterfall of hair and cackled that she had finally gotten revenge for the time the white-washed room had been hers.

The next day, Hitsugaya forced himself to wake up, because if he left Matsumoto in charge of things, nothing would ever get done. To his relief, his headache had been reduced somewhat, mainly by medicine, his throat was less parched, and even though he felt like he had been run over, he was essentially okay. Shifting his head, he saw the glass of water, and by sheer force of will, he pulled himself into sitting position and reached out to grasp the cup. And when the rim of the cup was millimetres away from his mouth, the door of his room smashed open and his busty lieutenant reached out and pulled three stacks of paperwork into the room, grunting with the exertion. He dropped the cup. Whether it was because he was startled (because Hitsugaya Taichou _never_ got frightened) or from the surprise of seeing Matsumoto put in the effort to drag all his paperwork here, he could never figure out. He supposed it was a combination of both. Turning around and smiling in his general direction, she put her hands on her hips and inspected her handiwork. Then spinning around, she grinned at him and proceeded to move all the papers to the end of his bed.

"Heeeeey, Taichou!!! You feeling better?" He had long since learned that Matsumoto thrived on noise. So he wasn't surprised when she went on without giving him time to answer, she continued. "Alright, that's good! I brought all your paperwork – as you can see, and your box of tea is...uh..." she dug around in the messy stack before dangling the small tea box in the air triumphantly, "here, and your cup is...uh...somewhere in the pile, and I brought your favourite pen, you know, that weird plastic ''ballpoint", I think, ink-stick that Ichigo gave you. It's in the middle of the pile – I hid it, so you'll have something to keep yourself occupied with, (a large sweat-drop formed on his forehead at this statement) and um...." – she tapped her chin – "I think that's around it...Yup, that's it. Is it okay?"

He nodded, not that there was any choice...

'Great!" she beamed. "Alrighty," she clapped her hands in childish glee which showed blatantly on her face. "I'll leave you to your work then, have fun!" she sang and flashed out of the room before he could say anything.

In the end, Matsumoto did the paperwork and Hitsugaya slept on the couch all day long. And really, she didn't mind all that much because even though she had to do work, she also did a lot of photography.

When remembering the incident, Hitsugaya knew it could be summed up into one sentence:

"The fourth time I landed in hospital, Rangiku bought me paperwork."

And he was never able to conceal the small grin that crept onto his ace after he said it.

* * *

The fifth, and the last time the white-haired captain of the tenth division was seen on a hospital bed, Matsumoto didn't really bring him anything.

The fifth time Hitsugaya was bandaged up in a hospital bed; Matsumoto brought him to a lake even he didn't know about. In actual fact, it really wasn't a lake it was more of a large pond, but even as they walked to the lake, he could tell Matsumoto really loved it.

When they got there, Hitsugaya was immediately glad that Matsumoto had brought him here. Picking a large boulder which was close enough to the water, but not too far out from land, he settled himself into a comfortable spot and stared at the rippling water. A peaceful silence settled upon them, and for a while, it was nice. But he was a captain with a loud, bubbly vice-captain, and such a long silence was unnatural for her, for him, for both of them, because he was so used to hearing her voice.

"Rangiku," He patted the space beside on the rock. "Will you come and sit here?"

He heard shuffling and then the familiar presence and fruity scent of his vice-captain washed over him softly, like the ripples in the water which made tiny waves as they bumped into the rocks on the side of the pond.

They both knew the reason he was in hospital again. There was no point in denying it. He had been careless, and caught a particularly well placed blow which had torn the flesh of his chest and abdomen. Well, that was the reason he had Rangiku give the division, and according to her, they accepted it readily enough, because, of course, even the most seasoned of shinigami can make mistakes.

However, he knew that Matsumoto knew the real reason behind it. He knew it too. It may have been a well-placed blow, but he could have dodged it. Or blocked it, or changed its course. He could have saved himself, had he not been distracted.

It was Rangiku who broke the silence first.

"Toushiro," she paused as if she didn't know how to continue, "This lake gives me a feeling of peace and calm, when everything seems to be going wrong, I come here, to think, and clear my mind. I hoped that maybe, you would get the feeling when you sit here, and just...think...about everything, and nothing in particular." She sucked in a deep breath, and let it out in a long sigh.

"Toushiro, I love you, I hope you know that." He nodded. "It hurts me to see you suffer. I hate it when you come back looking like you've got the world on your shoulders, and nothing's going right, but you've got to carry that load alone because you've got nothing to lean on. And when you just curl up into a little ball inside and just hurt silently, well, it make me feel like I'm a worthless lieutenant and a horrible girlfriend." She let out a hollow laugh, and it made his heart constrict at the forced, counterfeit sound that was definitely _not_ Matsumoto's.

"When you were in that fight, when that hit came, I thought you would dodge it, but when you just stood there..." She let the sentence hang in there air, not wanting to finish it.

She sighed and stared down at her hands, absent-mindedly running her fingers over the ground until it came across a smooth pebble which she skipped on the water. She ran her fingers through her hair and looked away.

"Look, Toushiro, Taichou, you haven't told me what's bothering you, and you seem unusually close-mouthed about it, and you're only like this when something concerns Hinamori-san. I just thought that this place may give you some sort of peace of mind, and maybe you might want to talk about whatever's got you tired and confused, but..." she glanced at him sidelong, noting his drawn eyebrows, half lowered eyelids and pursed mouth. Signs that he wasn't going to talk. "...it seems to have been the wrong thing to do."

In a fluid movement, she stood up. "Well, Toushiro, if you need me, I'll be in our office. Don't stay out too late; it's easy to catch a cold here. Don't bother going back to the division quarters, the nurse'll throw a fit if you don't return. Good night, Toushiro. I love you." Turning around to leave, she was only slightly startled when his had shot out and grasped her wrist in a firm but gentle grip.

"No, Rangiku...will you stay?" She turned slowly. He still wasn't looking at her, but she could tell he was focused on her, waiting for her to either sit or keep moving. She sat. The grip on her wrist eased, but his hand moved down to hers as he grasped it and brought it to his lips and then his forehead pressing her palm to his skin like she was an icepack.

He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Rangiku...I didn't mean for you to worry, or feel useless because you're anything but a worthless lieutenant and a horrible girlfriend." He ran his free hand through his tousled white locks in an indecisive moment, but continued.

"It's just that, with Aizen's execution, Hinamori's been so depressed, and sick with grief. I suppose she never got over his betrayal, but she was really improving, and getting better every day, but then, I went out and captured him, and then he was executed, and well, I think I'm feeling guilty for causing her pain because I caught him. And when I fought that enemy, well, the fighting style was so similar, and the strike he hit me with was so familiar I got distracted and I froze, and we both know what happened after that." His small laugh was humourless as he replayed what happened in his mind, and Matsumoto was saddened even further to see his expressive teal eyes begin to water. He made no move to brush the tears which were beginning to trickle down his face away.

"I'm such an idiot, right?" a watery chuckle. "You'd wonder how on earth I graduated from Academy, let alone advance up to a captain's level, huh?" Picking up a pebble, he threw it angrily into the water, causing a loud splash. "I fact, I don't even know. I don't have any idea how I even got here, how I even got you." Despite himself, a chocked sob tore from his throat, and he buried his face into his arm as the tears began to flow steadily. "I...I don't know what to do anymore, Rangiku, I...I'm making such a huge mess of everything, and...I...I...oh, I don't know..." he stiffened when he felt her arm snake around his shoulders but then relaxed into her familiar touch and warmth. Burying his face into the crook of her neck, he opened the door to his heart and let all the pain and heartache of the past few years flow out in a flood of tears. He didn't realise that his hands had moved so they were clutching the low collar of her robes, he only heard a few of the words she said to him, feeling comforted and safe in her warm embrace. He didn't realise that he had fallen asleep until he woke up in his own bed the next morning. On his bedside table, there was a glass of water, half-a-dozen pills, and a small note which said:

_Toushiro, you're anything but an idiot. I left a load of pills for you (I feel so sorry for you, but the nurse bribed me with sake to make sure you ate them because she thought you would just neglect them, and I couldn't help myself) so please consume them with the water. I love you as you are, so don't you dare think that you're not good enough for your rank, for others, for me, because it's really the other way around. Everyone makes mistakes, the ones you rarely make are tiny in comparison to some of mine (though I think I may have made a mistake by accepting the bribe, but it was good quality sake! – and it did taste really good) – maybe I'll tell you one of them later... anyway, don't worry and be happy, and learn from past failures to produce future successes. I love you, see you at lunch (I'm going to your favourite place...if you come, it'll be my treat.)!!_

_Love, _

_Rangiku ~~ _

A smile appeared on his face. "Thanks, Rangiku" he said aloud, and outside, his lieutenant smiled.

The fifth time Hitsugaya Toushiro landed in hospital you could say that Matsumoto bought him a lake, but to Hitsugaya, the fifth time he landed in hospital, Matsumoto Rangiku taught him the true meaning of love.

* * *

**And that is the first chappy/one-shot/whatever of a (maybe?!?!) series of one-shots. Please proceed to click the button which says "Review" because I know that you know that I know that you know you want to. xDDDD. And so. C-L-I-C-K!!!**

**Please tell me if you want to hear more of this, if you have constructive criticism, then feel free to tell me, you are by no means offending me by helping me improve! I love constructive criticism anyway. **

**Thanks for taking the time, to read it (I love you for it -- xD), I hope you liked it. **

**-- Bitter-Sweet Teardrops **


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